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Prosecutors say recordings in Lodi probe detail jihad intentions DON THOMPSON Associated Press SACRAMENTO - A federal magistrate questioned whether two Lodi men held on terror-related charges can be considered dangerous, despite prosecutors' detailing of secret recordings they say provide further evidence of potential violence. Hamid Hayat, 22, and his father, Umer Hayat, 47, are charged with lying to federal investigators, and prosecutors said additional charges could follow. Prosecutors asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Dale Drozd to keep the men jailed pending trial, arguing they are likely to flee to Pakistan and are a danger to the community if they are released. Defense attorneys want bail to be set and said the Hayats are willing to put up a family home in Lodi they value at $240,000 to ensure they don't flee. "They are not charged with a crime of violence," Drozd said Monday of the Hayats. "I don't believe they can be detained as a danger to the community." He stopped short of saying he might free the men but said he might have to change the order specifying why the father and son are being detained. He set a second hearing on the matter for Tuesday. Secret tape recordings provide further evidence that the younger man attended a Pakistani terror training camp and trained for jihad, federal prosecutors contend in a court filing arguing against the defense motion to set bail. The men were arrested in June, days after the younger man returned from Pakistan. Hamid Hayat is charged with lying when he initially denied attending an al-Qaida training camp. Prosecutors charged his father with lying when he initially denied helping pay for his son to attend the camp for at least three months in 2003. In their court filing, prosecutors said a "cooperating witness" recorded Hamid Hayat in March and April 2003 when he was in the United States and again after Hayat arrived in Pakistan in April. Hamid Hayat "revealed that he understood the nature and structure of various known Pakistani terrorist groups and that he had detailed knowledge regarding the mechanics of attending a jihadi camp," prosecutors Steven Lapham and Robert Tice-Raskin alleged. They cited preliminary translations of the recorded conversations. Umer Hayat's attorney, Johnny Griffin III, said he believes the witness was an undercover government agent who grew so close to the Hayats that he spent nights in their home. "Much of what was said was initially said by the cooperating witness," Griffin said. "It was leading questions." The investigation into alleged terror activity in Lodi, an agricultural town of 62,000 about 35 miles south of Sacramento, had been ongoing for several years. It also involved two local Islamic religious leaders, who the government alleged had terrorist ties and planned to set up a training camp under the guise of a Muslim school there. The leaders were ordered deported to Pakistan with their families. The investigation also produced hours of secretly recorded conversations involving multiple suspects. In conversations from Pakistan, Hamid Hayat told the witness that he had been accepted for "training," prosecutors said. After failing a lie detector test upon his return, Hayat admitted in a videotaped interview that he attended one camp for three days in 2000 and a second for three to six months in 2003 and 2004, describing the location and layout of the second camp, prosecutors alleged. "The purpose of both camps was to train for jihad and to teach people to kill those who work against Muslims," they alleged. They said the camps provided training in weapons and explosives and hand-to-hand combat. The younger man admitted during the videotaped interrogation that he "intended to commit jihad in the U.S. He did not have any orders to fight at present; however, he was awaiting such orders," prosecutors said. In their court filings, prosecutors said that with the newly disclosed evidence "additional charges may be filed." If convicted only on the lying allegations, Hamid Hayat could face 16 years in prison and his father eight years, prosecutors said. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> <font face=arial size=-1><a href="http://us.ard.yahoo.com/SIG=12h99u4j0/M=362329.6886306.7839369.3040540/D=groups/S=1705323667:TM/Y=YAHOO/EXP=1124813982/A=2894321/R=0/SIG=11dvsfulr/*http://youthnoise.com/page.php?page_id=1992 ">Fair play? Video games influencing politics. Click and talk back!</a>.</font> --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? 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